Pencil sharpening device

ABSTRACT

A pencil sharpener is described including a fastening-pin assembly comprising a bore-defining fastening pin, having a pencil-sharpening blade therein. The fastening pin&#39;&#39;s bore is funnel shaped for receiving pencil points to be sharpened. In one embodiment the fastening-pin assembly comprises a tubularly shaped rivet with a pencil sharpening blade assembly mounted therein. The rivet pencil sharpener is described in combination with a folding ruler wherein several rivet assemblies are located at pivotal joints of the folding ruler. When the folding ruler is folded so as to line up the pivotal joints, the rivet assemblies cooperate to form a pencil sharpener. The rivet pencil sharpener is also described in combination with a tape ruler wherein it is mounted at the axis about which a roll of tape rotates. In another embodiment, the fastening pin assembly comprises a tubularly shaped bolt, having a pencil sharpening blade mounted therein and being fastened to objects with a nut.

United States Patent I [191 Dombroski [111 3,809,137 [451 May 7,1974

[54] PENCIL SHARPENING DEVICE [76] Inventor: James J. Dombroski, 40 Belknap Ave., Newport, NH.

[22 Filed: Sept. 17,1971 21 Appl.No.: 181,388

7 52 us. c1 145/3.61',145/3.2, 7/14.1R,

, v 7/1 M, 33/115 51 Int. Cl ..B43l23/08 [58] FieldofSearch ..145/3.61,3.l,3.2,3.5,

145/3.6; 7/14.1 R, l M; 33/105, 106, 115; l44/28.1, 28.1l

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 479,658 7/1892 Phillips 145/3151 507,437 10/1893 Hopkins 145/3.61 X

FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS 76,323 7/1894 Germany l45/3.2 319,546 3/1920 Germany 145/12 Primary Examiner-Al Lawrence Smith Assistant Examiner-Roscoe V. Parker Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Griffin, Branigan and Butler [5 7] ABSTRACT A pencil sharpener is described including a fasteningpin assembly comprising a bore-defining fastening pin, having a pencil-sharpening blade therein. The fastening pins bore is funnel shaped for receiving pencil points to be sharpened, In one embodiment the fastening-pin assembly comprises a tubularly shaped rivet with a pencil sharpening blade assembly mounted therein. ,The rivet pencil sharpener is described in combination with a folding ruler wherein several rivet assemblies are located at pivotal joints of the folding ruler. When the folding ruler is folded so as to line up the pivotal joints, the rivet assemblies cooperate to form a pencil sharpener. The rivet pencil sharpener is also described in combination with a tape rulerwherein it is mounted at the axis about which a roll of tape rotates. In another embodiment, the fastening pin assembly comprises a tubularly shaped bolt, having a pencil sharpening blade mounted therein and being fastened to objects with a nut.

2 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHAY 7:914

SHEET 1 UP 3 FIG. 2A

#4? FIG 3 INVENTOR JAMES J. DOMBROSKI BY AT 4. TORNEYS 1. PENCIL SHARPENING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I This invention relates generally to the pencil sharpener art and more particularly to pencil sharpeners which are combined with other objects such as rulers and various other tools.

workmen, such as carpenters, use pencils from time to time along with many other tools. When such pencils must be sharpened it is often inconvenient for the workmen to seek pencil sharpeners or penknives.

A prior art method for making pencil sharpeners conveniently accessible to workmen, is to combine a portable pencil sharpener with a tool.vFor example, US. Pat. No. 503,794 to Holben, and U. S. Pat. No. 822,553 to Reizenstein describe portable type pencil sharpeners combined with rulers. One difficulty with many such prior art pencil sharpnersis that the shapes of their outer housings are not particularly suited for easy attachment to other tools. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a pencil sharpener having an outer housing which is particularly shaped for easy attachment to other tools.

Also, a disadvantage of some prior art pencilsharpener combination devices is that their shapes and sizes are inconveniently large. For example, in the device described in the Holben patent a ruler block must be relatively thick to accommodate a pencil-sharpener cavity, and in the device described in the Reizenstein patent a conical pencil sharpener is attached on the outside surface of a rulers handle. Especially in the case of Reizenstein, the pencil sharpener protrudes from the tool and thereby detracts, to some degree, from its overall usefulness. It istherefor another object of this invention to provide a pencil sharpener which is mountable on many tools. particularly measuring tools, and which, when so mounted, does not significantly increase the size, or detract from the usefulness, of such tools. I

Many popular tools comprise sections which rotate about axes, such as folding rulers or tape rulers. Although such tools are often used by handymen and carpenters, pencil sharpeners are seldom combined with them; most likely because it is difficult to mount pencil sharpeners on them without interferring with their moving sections. It is therefore yet another object of this invention to provide apractical combined tool which comprises a pencil sharpener mounted on a tool having rotatable sections.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the principles of this invention a pencil sharpener includes a tubularly shaped fastening pin having a pencil sharpening blade mounted therein.

Such fastening-pin pencil sharpeners when in the form of rivets, are particularly suited to be mounted at the axes areas of tools having rotating sections. For example, pencil sharpening rivet assemblies can be combined with foldingrulers by respectively locating several rivet assemblies at pivotal joints of the folding rulers. When the folding rulers are folded such that the pivotal joints are lined up adjacent one another the rivet assemblies cooperate to form rivet pencil sharpeners. The rivet pencil sharpeners can also be combined with tape rulers by mounting them at the axes areas of such tape rulers.

Further, such fastening-pin pencil sharpeners, when in the form of bolts, are particularly suited to be mounted by users thereof on any structural objects having holes therein. For example, carpenters can bore 'holes in ladders sidepieces-and mount pencil sharpening bolts therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTI-IE DRAWINGS The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead is placed on illustrating the principles of manner.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of two sections of a standard folding rulerhaving a rivet assembly, employing principles of this invention, mounted therein.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the rivetassernbly and two folding ruler. joint members shown in FIG. 1.

the invention in a clear FIG. 2A is asectional view of the rivetassembly I taken on line 2A-2A in FIG. 2;

, FIG. 6 is an isometric view of a tape ruler assembly having a rivet pencil sharpener mounted therein;

FIG. 7 is anexploded sectional view of abolt assembly employing principles of this invention; and

FIG. 8 is an exploded isometric view of the bolt assembly of FIG. 7 mounted on a ladder.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referringto FIGS. 1-5,'there is shown a pencil sharpener fastening pin assembly in the form of rivet assemblies 11a, '1) and c mounted at the pivot joint of a standard folding ruler 13.

Referring first to FIGS. 1-3, the pencil sharpener rivet assembly comprises a cylindrically shaped outer housing15, a blade member 117, aguide member 19 and first and second flanges21 and 23. In the preferred embodiment the rivet assembly, including the blade member 17 and the guide member 19, is an integrated structural member. The blademember 17, the guide member 19 and walls of the outer housing 15 define a funnel shaped bore 25. The blade member 17 and guide member 19 are positioned relative to one another such that if an elongated instrument, such as a pencil, is inserted into the funnel shaped bore 25 and rotated in a counterclockwise direction, as seen in FIG.

4, a cutting edge 27 of the blade member 17 (shown in FIGS. 1-3, but not in FIG. 4) sharpens the instrument.

The standard folding ruler 13 comprises many sections with adjacent sections being pivotally joined together by rivets. The folding ruler sections are desig-,

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on Line 3-3 in F IG.

3 nated by numerals 29-47 in FIG. 5. Two of the ruler sections 41 and 43, are shown in more detail in FIG. 1 in the unfolded configuration.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, two joint members 49 and 51 are respectively mounted on the ruler sections 41 and 43 by prongs 53 and beveled sides 54. The ruler sections 41 and 43, along with joint members 49 and 51, are pivotally joined by the pencil-sharpener rivet assembly 11c which is inserted through jointmember bores 55 and bores in the ruler sections (as shown in FIG. 3). The first and second rivet flanges 21 and 23 are flatened as shown in FIG. 3 to hold the ruler sections 41 and 43 together. Bosses 57 in the second joint member 51 cooperate with cavities (not shown) in the first joint member 49 to retain the ruler sections 41 and 43 in an unfolded position as shown in FIG. 1 or in a folded position as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

With regard to the overall combination folding ruler/rivet pencil sharpener, rivet assemblies 11a, b, and c are mounted at every other pivot joint of the folding ruler 13, with respective blades (not shown in FIGS. 4 and guides 19 and h housing walls of each sequential rivet assembly defining a funnel shaped bore 25 which is progressively smaller, or larger, than the preceding rivet assembly bore. In this manner, when the folding ruler is folded, as shown in FIG. 4, the pencil sharpener rivets are lined up and .can be used to sharpen a pencil 59.

In FIG. 5 there is shown the same folded, folding ruler seen in FIG. 4 but with additional end sections 29, 31, 45 and 47 joined by prior art rivets 61. It should be noted that these rivets do not extend through the ruler sections 29, 31 and 45, 47 as do the pencil sharpening rivets 11. When the folding ruler is folded, as shown in FIG. 5, these sections close over the ends of the end pencil-sharpener rivets 11a and 110 and thereby help to protect the rivet assemblies lla-c.

Shown in FIG. 6 is a pencil sharpener rivet assembly 67 mounted in a tape ruler assembly 69. The rivet pencil sharpener shown in FIG. 6 has a single cutting edge 71 (as opposed to the segmented cutting edges of the rivet pencil sharpener shown in FIGS. 4 and 5) and a single guide member 73. That is, the rivet assembly 67 forms a complete pencil sharpener which does not cooperate with other rivet assemblies.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, there is shown a pencil-sharpener fastening pin assembly in the form of a bolt assembly 75. The bolt assembly 75 comprises a tubularly shaped bolt 76 having a pencil sharpening blade 77 and a guide member 79 mounted therein. In this regard, it should be noted that FIG. 7 is a sectional view similar to the sectional views of FIGS. 4 and 5. That is, it is taken looking away from a blade which cannot be seen in this drawing, toward a guide member 79. The bolt assembly 76 is externally threaded and has a bolt head 81 with lock teeth 83 protruding therefrom. A nut 85, for mating with the bolt 76, has a nut head 87 and an internally threaded nut body 89.

The manner of installing the pencil-sharpening bolt assembly 75 is shown in FIG. 8. After an appropriately sized hole 91 is bored in a structural member, such as a ladders sidepiece 93, the nut body 89 is inserted into one end of the hole and the bolt 76 is screwed tightly into the nut from the other end of the hole. Thus, the bolt and nut heads 81 and 87 are tightened on the sides of the ladders sidepiece 93 and hold the bolt assembly firmly in place. A lock washer 95, mounted on the nut body 87, and the lock teeth 83, prevent the bolt assembly 75 from coming unscrewed during use.

In operation, a pencil tip is inserted into a pencil receiving cavity 97 and is rotated so that the blade 77, positioned opposite the guide member 79, slices shavings from the pencil tip. The shavings are exhausted via a shavings cavity 99. It will be appreciated by both handymen and professional workmen that the fastening-pin pencil sharpeners described herein are unusually useful and convenient. For example, some such pencil sharpeners can be easily self mounted by workmen on various tools. Further, by mounting fasteningpin pencil sharpeners at the pivotal areas of tools having pivot joints,.useful and convenient tools are created.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, pencil sharpener rivet assemblies can be easily mounted on numerous tools not mentioned above. Further, a fastening-pin pencil sharpener can comprise various combinations of fastening pins and blades interconnected in various manners.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege are claimed are defined as follows:

l. A pencil sharpener of the type which is adapted to be mounted inside a smooth bore in a structural member, said pencil sharpener comprising:

a first tubularly-shaped member having an outwardly extending flange or head at a first end thereof, said first tubularly shaped member having external threads formed on the outer surface-thereof, and having, on the inside thereof, a guide member and a pencil sharpening blade, said guide member and said pencil sharpening blade cooperating to form a cone-shaped pencil-receiving cavity on a first side thereof and a shavings cavity inside said first tubularly shaped member on a second side thereof, said pencil-receiving cavity having an enlarged portion opening toward said first end of said first tubularly shaped member and said shavings cavity having an enlarged portion opening toward a second end of said first tubularly shaped member, whereby a pencil can be inserted into said pencil-receiving cavity and rotated to sharpen said pencil;

a second tubularly-shaped member having an outwardly extending flange or head at a first end thereof, said second tubularly-shaped member being hollow and having internalthreads formed on an inner surface thereof, said second tubularly shaped member having a relatively smooth outer surface andbeing adapted to fit into said smooth bore; whereby said second-tubularly shaped member can be inserted into said smooth bore from a first end of said bore until said second-tubularly shaped-member flange or head contacts said structural member, and said first tubularly shaped member can be screwed into said second tubularly shaped member from a second side of said bore until said first tubularly shaped member head contacts an opposite side of said structural member to thereby retain said pencil sharpener in said smooth bore.

2. A pencil sharpener as claimed in claim 1 wherein lock teeth protrude from the inside surface of at least one of said first tubularly shaped-member head and said second tubularly shaped-member head. 

1. A pencil sharpener of the type which is adapted to be mounted inside a smooth bore in a structural member, said pencil sharpener comprising: a first tubularly-shaped member having an outwardly extending flange or head at a first end thereof, said first tubularly shaped member having external threads formed on the outer surface thereof, and having, on the inside thereof, a guide member and a pencil sharpening blade, said guide member and said pencil sharpening blade cooperating to form a cone-shaped pencil-receiving cavity on a first side thereof and a shavings cavity inside said first tubularly shaped member on a second side thereof, said pencil-receiving cavity having an enlarged portion opening toward said first end of said first tubularly shaped member and said shavings cavity having an enlarged portion opening toward a second end of said first tubularly shaped member, whereby a pencil can be inserted into said pencil-receiving cavity and rotated to sharpen said pencil; a second tubularly-shaped member having an outwardly extending flange or head at a first end thereof, said second tubularlyshaped member being hollow and having internal threads formed on an inner surface thereof, said second tubularly shaped member having a relatively smooth outer surface and being adapted to fit into said smooth bore; whereby said second-tubularly shaped member can be inserted into said smooth bore from a first end of said bore until said secondtubularly shaped-member flange or head contacts said structural member, and said first tubularly shaped member can be screwed into said second tubularly shaped member from a second side of said bore until said first tubularly shaped member head contacts an opposite side of said structural member to thereby retain said pencil sharpener in said smooth bore.
 2. A pencil sharpener as claimed in claim 1 wherein lock teeth protrude from the inside surface of at least one of said first tubularly shaped-member head and said second tubularly shaped-member head. 